14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft will bring back the Start button in the new Windows 8.1, but instead of launching a Start Menu, it would only serve as a shortcut for the Start Screen.
And still, that's not at all a problem, Kevin Foreman, director of Product Vision for Vectorform, the company that launched Toolbox for Windows 8, told us in an interview.
While the Start button would clearly make the operating system more familiar, Foreman explains that Microsoft should actually focus on fixing the Start Screen's drawbacks rather than abandon this new concept and bring back the Start Menu.
“The new Start screen has a lot of advantages, with some major drawbacks. I would prefer Microsoft to fix the drawbacks instead of reverting back to the old, familiar, design of the Start menu. There is no doubt that Windows 8 has a learning curve, but so did Windows 95 and we all grew accustomed to that,” he said.
“The mouse and keyboard were fantastic human-interface devices, but I wouldn’t say they are the absolute best way to interact with a computer. As we evolve our interactions, our UI has to evolve with it, and reverting back to a UI design that was introduced nearly 20 years ago isn’t allowing for evolution.”
And as far as Microsoft is concerned, that's absolutely true. As we all found out the past week, the tech giant would only bring the Start button back to help users access the Start screen a bit faster.
The reinvented Start button will be always visible when working on the desktop, but will be available in the Metro UI as well by simply moving the mouse cursor in the lower left button. So don't be too surprised if third-party Start buttons continue to experience a terrific success.
You can read our full interview with Kevin Foreman here.